Russia Crisis to Have
'No Impact on Euro'

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Russia's financial woes won't force the European Union to delay the Jan. 1, 1999, introduction of the single currency, an EU official said.

"The Russian crisis will have no impact on the euro," Hans van den Broek, the EU commissioner responsible for relations with Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, said on Friday, adding that "no one doubts that the euro will be introduced on Jan. 1."